1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to display systems and more specifically to display systems that include a plurality of display devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thin display devices such as liquid crystal display panels and EL panels are now being offered as alternatives to information on paper particularly for browsing or distributing large amounts of information (e.g. in conferences). The advantage is that large amounts of information can easily be displayed while reducing costs associated with paper use. That is, costs for paper and consumables such as ink and toner can be reduced.
In order to distribute data, thin display devices are connected by cables to a general-purpose computer containing the data, and then the data is transferred from the computer to the thin display devices. Alternatively, the data to be distributed is transferred to a memory card, and the memory card is connected to the thin display devices so as to directly display the data in the thin display devices, or the data is further transferred from the memory card to the thin display devices so as to display the data.
However, the above-described method has the following problems. That is, the conventional thin display device transfers data while being connected to a personal computer or via a memory card. Therefore, a complicated operation must be performed on the personal computer. Also, the display device must be used in conjunction with the personal computer, which causes poor portability, and thus such display device cannot be easily used as an alternative of paper. Compared to a method using paper and a copier, the cost of consumables reduces in the method using display devices. However, when paper is used, documents must be copied again if the described content is changed. Further, when the order of sheets needs to be changed or the vertical direction of the document must be changed, all the sheets must be sorted again. Therefore, the method using paper is poor in convenience and usability when the amount of data is large.